FinePix S5000 Zoom

FinePix S5000 Zoom

Fujifilm FinePix S5000 Zoom Review

By
Movable Type Admin

Steve's Conclusion

The FinePix S5000 is a fairly compact, lightweight and feature rich 3-megapixel (6-megapixel using interpolation) camera your entire family can use. With a range
of exposure modes from automatic to manual, and many steps between, this camera can be
changed from a simple point-n-shoot your children will enjoy to a photographic tool that
will satisfy the creative urges of a semi-pro. Equipped with a 10X Fujinon optical zoom
lens, the S5000 offers a degree of versatility in composing your images that you will
rarely find limiting.

The most dominant feature is the powerful Fujinon 10X optical zoom lens.
Covering a focal length from 37 to 370mm in 35mm equivalence, it offers the photographer
enormous versatility in image composition; the 37mm wide-angle covers most interior shots,
while its 370mm telephoto magnification will please the nature and sports photographer. If
your shooting needs do exceed the 37-370mm range of the non-removable lens, Fuji offers 2
conversion lens, the WL-FX9, which offers a wide .79X multiplier, and the TL-FX9, which
offers a telephoto 1.5X; the use of these two lenses will extend your zoom to a range of
30-555mm! The lens produces sharp images throughout its zoom range, but with a bit of
barrel distortion and pin cushioning present at the wide-angle and telephoto extremes
respectively. The lens is very fast; with a wide-open variable aperture range of F2.8
(wide) to F3.1 (tele), it will allow for a higher than expected shutter speed and enable
you to hand-hold the camera in lighting conditions that might otherwise require a camera
support.

The S5000's shooting performance ranged from average to exceptional. From power-on till
the first image was captured measured under 5 seconds. Shutter lag, the delay between
depressing the shutter and capturing the image, was 3/10 second when pre-focused, and 9/10
second including autofocus time. Shot-to-shot delay averaged about 1.5 seconds, while
burst mode captured five shots in only 1.3 seconds; the viewfinder remained usable in
both modes of rapid image capture. Sports shooters will enjoy 2 modes of continuous
shooting, Top 5-Frame which is a standard burst capture mode, and Final 5-Frame which
releases the shutter up to 40 times but records only the last 5 frames when the shutter
is released. Testing the camera at a beach volleyball tournament, the consistent 3/10
second shutter lag enabled us to develop a rhythm with the camera and capture a high-
percentage of decisive moments.

We were happy with the results shooting indoors. The moderate wide-angle lens affords
reasonable field of view, and its built-in pop-up flash has a powerful (by consumer
digicam standards) range of up to 19.7 feet. You won't be illuminating an entire banquet
room, but your large living room shots or group portraits will be covered. In low ambient
light, both the Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) and large LCD were easy to view, and the
S5000's AF-Assist Illuminator produced sharp focus. The camera was also able to squelch
its flash at close range, making it a good choice for shooting close-up images of small
objects. There is no provision for the attachment
of external flash equipment.

We were mostly pleased with our outdoor test shots. Images were sharp, well-exposed and
richly saturated. Fuji uses more JPEG compression than other 3-megapixel
resolution cameras, the file sizes for most of our samples were under a megabyte. Other
cameras give you a choice of both the image size and quality, the S5000 offers only a
resolution setting, I prefer being in control of both of these parameters. You can see
some compression artifacts in blue-sky areas that could be eliminated with a finer JPEG
compression setting. We found the Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) somewhat difficult to view
in bright sunlight; the S5000 would benefit from having a deeper rubber eyecup on the EVF
to better block out ambient light.

The S5000 uses 4 standard AA batteries, and we recommend using rechargeable
NiMH batteries.
We found the battery life quite acceptable when using the camera's power-saving mode.

One of the S5000's unique features is its ability to produce interpolated 6-megapixel images
from a 3-megapixel image sensor. Comparing equally-sized enlargements of segments from 3 and
a 6-megapixel interpolated images, the interpolated image showed only minor degradation.
This feature will be of most value to those desiring to make poster-size prints.

With a street price of under $400 and a great deal of versatility, the FinePix S5000 offers
a lot of value. Usable by every member of your family, it will produce high-quality images
of everything from family events, objects for sale at online auctions, and nature to
sporting events. If you value a continuous viewfinder during image capture, the use of
standard AA batteries, two varieties of very rapid continuous shooting, and the ability to
produce 6-megapixel interpolated images, the 3-megapixel 10X zoom S5000 would be a good
choice for an all-around family digicam.

Visitors of Steves can visit the stores below for real-time pricing and availability. You can also find hot, soon to expire online offers on a variety of cameras and accessories at our very own Camera Deals page.